Kyle Smolinski - Muscle, Mass and Rainbows - Let's Grow Big Together

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
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Speaker 2 (00:48):
Chicago's very own Kyle Smolinski is a rising star in
the open bodybuilding scene, dominating some of the top NPC
heavyweight contests, including a gold medal win in the heavyweight
division at the NPC the J Cutler Classic in Virginia.
But beyond his impressive size and stage presence, Kyle is
also openly gay and known for his signature rainbow colored hair.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Let's Grow Big Together, the podcast that builds muscle with
all the colors of the rainbow, including.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Biceps, bronzer, and big queer energy. I'm Faustro Fernans.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
And I'm Mark Fillian. In this series, we take a
look at the passion for muscle, adventures in bodybuilding, muscle gods,
muscle worship, and practical advice to put on the gains.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Today, the rainbow Colored Beast Kyle Smolenski joins.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Us to talk about his rise to fame as an
openly gay bodybuilding champion.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
From his Technicolor Maine to his heavyweight victories, Kyle shares
his journey in the sport and what it takes to
stand out both on stage and beyond.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Plus all your questions, what's the skinny on low glycemic
natural sugars, artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Are cold plunges a scam?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And how much does sexuality play a role in bodybuilding?

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Bodybuilding can be a real adventure because it's all about
overcoming obstacles, discovering the strength within, and pushing unexpected boundaries.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Today we're joined by the rainbow.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Hair colored powerhouse Kyle Smolinski or more like Swollenski. As
an openly gay, open bodybuilding champion, Kyle has made a
mark in the sport, not just with his size and victories,
but also his signature technical or hair and unapologetic presence.
Fresh off his gold metal wind at the NPC J

(02:45):
Cutler Classic, Kyle is here to talk about his journey,
what it takes to standout, and how he's breaking barriers
in the sport. Welcome to Let's grow big together.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Let's do it. Thank you for having me here.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Ya, of course, it's a pleasure, Kyle.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
So, Kyle, how many shows have you done?

Speaker 5 (03:03):
Yeah, so I've done about four shows so far, probably
over about five years. So started off probably very early,
starting a little bit too early for my first show
within the Illinois state. For that one definitely was the
back of the end of the group. There's five of
us on stage. One guy was a life that late
or it was a heavyweight because he's only one. So

(03:25):
looks like I got second in the last, but I
really got.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Last and so yeah, so basically it was four people
and he placed fourth.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yes, And that was like seven years ago. Yes, And
that was what like three years into your bodybuilding. Yeah,
it was about three years and so that that's kind
of early for a body for somebody to get into
a bodybuilding, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (03:41):
Yeah? And I just yeah, I just moved to Chicago,
so like, you know, I kind of use as excuse
to kind of hunker down and like just try and
do it and see if I liked it.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah. Well, you know, no matter how you do in
something like that, it's a learning experience, right exactly.

Speaker 5 (03:52):
So I mean I knew when when I went through,
you know, tanning and looking around to see the guys like, Okay,
I was super nervous, but.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Did you fit in? And you were like there's no way, no.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
I did not fit in. Like my coach tried really
hard to pump me up, but like in the back
of my.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Head, I kind of knew, well, what was it kind
of terrifying to you know, be naked in that tanning room.

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I know it was for me last two years ago.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, what I was like, got to the NPC Mid
America Winter Classic and you have to wait, what was
your tanning in the morning or the day before?

Speaker 5 (04:22):
I always do the two sessions, So I do the
one the night before and then in the morning after,
because I'm they need to do multiple layers of tana.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah you're you're pretty.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
White, Yeah, I little bit, and and so you know
you're like completely naked, and then all the other competitors
come into the room and you're just like, god, damn,
I'm gonna lose so hard.

Speaker 5 (04:40):
Yeah, it's an interesting kind of thing because at that point, like, yeah,
you probably have a little bit foods here refed, but
like everything is so focused, Like so I don't care
that I'm naked. I think most of the time I've
had some lesbian woman that's done mine. At least in
my last two shows, it was it was that and
like wait, what are you just stand there and but
us naked and I don't I don't care you down right,

(05:01):
like they're seeing how many naked men and women in
that day, Like it doesn't make a difference. So I'm
not too afraid of like going and doing that. I
will say, like has experienced my Indiana State show. It
was also a pro show, so the pros tanned and
like at the same time that we did.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
I was like, oh my god, what do you see?
What do you do?

Speaker 5 (05:21):
I was like, I don't remember a thing, Like I
was so tired and just like ready to go back
to my hotel room and sleep that night, Like I
didn't care.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, yeah, because you're when you do these shows, you're
really kind of you're worn out because you've had this
multi year journey of working out and dyeing and restriction
and then dehydration, right, and so your brain's kind of
probably a little foggy.

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Yeah, pretty much like I don't remember a lot when
it comes like tanning or the night before, like and
all it is is really you're just posing for your
coach every few hours and making sure that everything's set
to go, and like you just want to fall asleep
because you want tomorrow to come so quickly. What was
your hair color for your first contest? Definitely was just
just regular. Yeah, just regular. I haven't had any colored
hair dots stage yet.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
And you're a gorgeous ginger. Do you identify as a ginger?

Speaker 4 (06:03):
I think my beard does, but like my head doesn't
know what to do with it.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
So so and then the twenty twenty one NPC Midwest
Battle of the Champions.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
First heavyweight, Yeah, so first place.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Yeah, that one that was the first time I got
first place. So that was a fun show. That was
the one where the pros wrest They went first, which
is kind of fun, and then they're kind of backstage
a little bit as we went through there, but yeah,
I got first place. There's only another one other competitor
with me, but it was it was definitely competitive show
against us. I think there's like nine or ten people
in the light heavyweights below, so it's kind of interesting
going from like nine people on stage to two.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Just too and so so for people who are not
familiar with the categories. And you know, you can look
at photos of Kyle, Me and Mark standing next to
each other and I'm classic physique. I'm five to eleven
two hundred and on my contest, I was one seventy
the way, but my bulking usually goes up to twenty
two thirty or so. Right now, you're also five eleven

(07:01):
and how much do you weigh?

Speaker 4 (07:02):
Yeah, I might have around two fifty right now.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
That's open body building.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
Yeah, so I'll be open for my next show. You
want to shoot for a super heavyweight, which is two
hundred and twenty five or higher. So if you look
down good, I'm definitely not at that that area yet.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
So because how much will you have to weigh in
order to become to twenty five? Right? You get big
and then you cut back.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
Yeah, it's very hard to judge, like what like my
max bulkweight would have to be because every coach does
it differently. So I'd say, if like I cut down
right now, i'd probably be around to twenty, like to
twenty two probably somewhere we'd leave, yeah, like all the
way down. If I were to do a competition, that's
probably what I would weigh in at.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
So, but that it's all a guess. You really probably
think in your bulk would be more like sixty two
seventy to get down to two twenty five? Yeah, or three?
Are we going three hundred?

Speaker 5 (07:48):
No, we went we want to shoot for two thirty five.
So that's why we're taking a long break going into
the next show, which will be in a year, probably
a year and a half to two years.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
Yeah, And so just quickly here twenty twenty three Western
New York's Champion, NPC second place and heavyweight Open and
twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Just two years ago, your last contest.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Was the NPC Jay Cutler Classic, where you took the
top prize in open bodybuilding heavyweight.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Were you shocked?

Speaker 5 (08:20):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, that one was super competitive.

Speaker 5 (08:23):
So we had I had two other people with me
for that one, and one of the guys looked really good,
and I was super nervous. Thankfully, like having people in
the crowd to kind of like be like, okay, you know,
was I better than them? Because like everyone sees themselves
smaller and lesser, at least that's how I see myself.
So it's really interesting like back toting like they're like, no, no,
you got this, Like yeah, I'm backstage being like I

(08:44):
don't think I got this. I don't think I got this.
And then you know, probably once we got to finals
and stepping up, I had that. I had a little
bit more confidence going into that. So that was a
really fun experience. But the good part is like I'm
one of those fun people backstage. I'm not the person
sitting there like grunting and like you know, I'm already
talking to everyone backstage and like being like, god's have fun.
And that's kind of how I get my nerves down

(09:04):
before going.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Yeah, I went to the to the women bodybuilders and
I was like you are so beautiful, and they're like, oh,
there's great. This guy's gay because all the straight guys
are really scared to talk to the women.

Speaker 5 (09:17):
I mean, some of those women look scary, but all
aquens with guns. That's true.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
What I liked about backstage is the women. They brought
like blankets and they had like they hung around having
a little picnic, and they're.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
So gross and everything there they're so good.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Here, they knew what to do. Here's a tip for
your listeners. If you're doing a show, treat it like
you're going to the beach. Bring some water, snacks, a blanket,
a pillow, because backstage there's no furniture, there's no chairs
to sit in, and so you're just like there, you know. Now,
I was with some of my other co competitors. I
call them my teammates too, you know, because we're all.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Kind of like there.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
We've worked so hard to get there, and you just
let you're surrounded by these beautiful men. And if you're
somebody who is attracted to muscular men, I'm in heaven, baby,
as Arnold says, I'm coming on.

Speaker 3 (10:06):
The stage, coming to the stage. It's great. You know.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
How about for you, like, did you ever develop any
crushes on your competitors?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (10:15):
No, not really.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
And I think it kind of goes back to like
kind of a little bit of focus, Like towards the
end is like you kind of just cause your own
Like I like to make friends backstage because again, like
we're all sitting back there for hours, so you know,
there's nothing else better than do. But for the most part,
I don't think I've ever had crushes on anyone that's
competed against. But I definitely like try and go around
and get as may follows and follow those people as

(10:36):
much as I can.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
But like, oh my god, you're so amazing, I'm so
honored to be sharing a stage with you, or you're
like I'm the best.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, maybe maybe I'm a little bit cocky about that.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
There there's a few people that we're definitely bigger, but
like the ones that were tend to kind of be
those more aggressive kind of like I'm better than you
cocky people backstage, so I tend to stay away from them.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, one guy was really obnoxious and he kept barking
orders at everybody else, and I'm like, you're just a competitor,
shut the fuck up, you know.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
So finally to quiet him, I just said, hey, fancy
be good to the men, and the man will be
good to you.

Speaker 5 (11:12):
It's like going to a restaurant and you'd be nice
to your waiters and stuff, because if you treat them well,
they'll treat.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
You well, right right.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
The pushers backstage are gonna be are going to be
aggressive if you're not where you want them where they
want you in that moment, they are going to yell
at you. If you have a number that they're calling
you don't hear them, like, they will grab you by
your posers and drag you to the line.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Like an announcement, like if you miss your call, you
miss your call, so you better pay attention.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
Last time I saw you, you had this mohawk that
was rainbow colored. It was marvelous, and you have this
magnificent body, and it was a Pride North here in Chicago,
and I was hanging out with some friends and I
introduced them to you, and they were all like hearts
in their eyes. They're like, this is the most beautiful
man I've ever met my life.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
Marry me.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
And they're all just like and You're like, please stop
staring at me.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
I did rainbow mohawk right before the Jay and then
in the Western York Classic, but I brought it down
short enough where like there was still some color, but
you really can't.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
See it from the stage.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
There's a little bit fear, like the homophobia, and you
don't want to draw attention to yourself, right, So like
Derek Bolts it was a bodybuilder as well and decent
on the guests of the show. Yeah, correct, Like he
painted his nails and like he had for a show
one time, like you know, and not just clear coat
like they were colored and he had he feared that,
like maybe he didn't get first place because the judges

(12:31):
saw that and like thought so, I mean, well, they do.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Have rules like no piercings, nipple piercing, nipple piers.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yeah, you can do ears. You do ears, but you
can't they don't. They see nipples, they'll ask you to
take it off. It depends on the contests.

Speaker 5 (12:46):
Yeah, the head judge gets final call. Like at my
show they said no sings periods, so like all men
had to take everything out.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
And what about tattoos? Do you have any tattoos?

Speaker 2 (12:56):
But they cover them up with the makeup, right are they?

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Well the tanning usually he takes over.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
I mean, I think Chris Bumstead most famously has a
bunch of tattoos and you don't really notice them on
stage because they're slathered with shoe polish.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
Basically, yeah, I don't have any tattoos, and I purposely
do that because of bodybuilding, because like anything that takes
away from the lines or whatever or is more work
before I go on stage doesn't sound fun than me.
So so I haven't got any tattoos. But for Minuer stated,
there's no rules against tattoos. You can have as me
as you want.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
But you certainly kind of have like a crazy uh
handlebar mustache. I mean, Carter Kissick famously has one, you know, well.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
I know on the pro side, like definitely because they
want to protect the image of like they don't they
don't well big beards or anything like, they will come
to your at least. My understanding was that the ipob
like has gone the bodybulders and made them shave before
like big shows before.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Oh really, so if you have like a Rip Van Winkle.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
We got to show the muscle, right, you gotta have
a beard block again your thick neck.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
You know, you got like a zzy top beard and
it goes covers your abs.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
It's like, well, I guess these muskles. I can't tell you.

Speaker 5 (14:01):
We cann be like the girls where you have to
like shoot your hair around and like wiggle your butt
around as you do it.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
So you're kind of living your dream. I mean, this
is your dream come true. And you know, can you
imagine like what you yourself at the age of twenty
two when you first stepping into a gym, must have
thought where you'd be here today.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
I don't think guy who is admire bodybuilding, but I
never thought I would completely do it, at least like
that twenty two, I want to be in the gym.
I actually start off with like a powerlifting coach. So
like my initial thing was just you know, yeah, I
want to get stronger and bigger, and like that powerlifters
do it, you know, totally different way, but they do it.
They do it their own way, and so I don't think.

(14:43):
It wasn't like a thought in my brain until I
started talking to people who were bodybuilders and another guest
of years, Pewan, like when I met him, he's the
one who actually hooked me up with with my first coach,
and that's when things actually started being like, Okay, I
can do this. So it wasn't an initial like I
think I could do this. It was more so, oh,
this is cool, but I'm gonna do this, and then
I kind of merged together.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
You were scared of go into the gym.

Speaker 5 (15:05):
Yeah, I definitely always had that urge and go to
the gym and be left and be bigger. In high
school I was skinny and even college. In high school
like a one hundred and forty hundred and fifty. Well
that's amazing.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
How tall were you five to eleven?

Speaker 3 (15:19):
That's crazy?

Speaker 1 (15:19):
So now you're one hundred pounds heavier all muscle?

Speaker 5 (15:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (15:26):
Just uh was that ten years? Fifteen years?

Speaker 4 (15:29):
I take ten to thirteen years, So.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
We're talking about you know, basically ten pounds.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
A dec a year, right pretty much?

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, that's incredible.

Speaker 5 (15:37):
Yeah, so I was. I was a little skinny thing
in college. I want swimming every day because you know,
I want because I drank a lot and partied a lot,
so I want to stay weaner. But I tried to
go to the gym a few times with my school
at two different gyms. One was like the student one
and was the athlete one, but students could go to
the athlete one when it was their off hours and
no one was there, and so I tried to go,
and so one of my athlete friends started showing up

(15:57):
at the same time I did, who was a track
as a track thrower, was a big person. I was like,
I feel intimidated. You know, I'm gonna stop going.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
And so from then on, you know, you may have
made it. Really, I would say phenomenal gains to the
point that, like I say that you're a rising star
because if you're into muscular guys and you're you know,
sexually attracted to gay men who are bodybuilders, and you're

(16:26):
also into the sport of bodybuilding, your name inevitably, like
the top five people, you and Derek Bolt's name, Pawan's
name comes up all the time. I don't even have
to intentionally look out for y'all, Like it just comes
at me, you know. And that's really like a testament
to your own you know, perseverance and passion in trying

(16:48):
to put on that size and it's not an easy
Journey's when.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
We got into it. In a minute.

Speaker 5 (16:52):
Yeah, and I think a little bit you know something
that like meet me, Derek and Pwan a lot of
other people is I think there's a like since that
is drives actually compete and to do it. I think
we have a little bit different lifestyles than you know,
a normal gay man, Like we really focus on hey,
like we had to eat our meals, so like we're
not sitting at a festival weekend all weekend, you know,
not eating and doing things like I'm known here at

(17:16):
the beach, here at Hollywood Beach. Should like be standing
in the water with my meal prep containers.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
Like what do you bring to the beach?

Speaker 5 (17:23):
Oh? I bring chicken, rice and everything, and I little
almond containers and you know.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
So it's all cut up and everything.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Yeah, cut up, and I just sit there and with
my hands and just chow through it.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Well, you really, you know, see the difference even just
like if you have a good meals for one day
and you go to the lift of the gym in
the evening, you really see how the food that you
consume that day impacts your ability to lift.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Whereas if you.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
You know, you're traveling, you're on vacation, or you know,
the refrigerator burned down and all the food spoiled, for example,
then you go to the gym lift in the evening
and you're just like, oh my god, it's like, you know,
I didn't eat anything today and it shows at the gym.

Speaker 5 (18:04):
Yeah, I mean, and even in the opposite sense of
that one. If I don't eat a meal and I
go to gym, like I feel, I feel just as
bad and like my way goes down the next day.
Like but like I know, we have the opposite problem
most like obese Americans, where like you know, we're worried
because the scout goes down three pounds the next day.
It's well, okay, I missed a meal, Like crap. You
know it shows that much, right, It does show that much,

(18:27):
especially when you're that consistent.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Right well, because you have a large mass and that
mass needs to be fed, and if it doesn't get fed,
it's struck. It's like, you know, an obese person, you
can eat a lot more calories because it takes a
lot more calories to maintain that.

Speaker 5 (18:41):
Yeah crazy, Yeah, correct. And then kind of back to
your question of more you know, having bad food or
cheat males like you know, off diet. Now number one,
my coach is gonna when I tell them about it,
he's going to get, you know, give me a slap
on the wrist.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
Of Okay, that wasn't great.

Speaker 5 (18:53):
But just like you said, I don't feel great in
the gym if I go have McDonald's before I go lifting,
Like it's not a yeah, it might have tasted yummy,
but I feel horrible in the gym. I don't feel
like I can push this far because like I'm just
more worried about my stomach.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
So, yeah, I shure you're more like a whole foods
kind of person. You're not eating a lot of high
ultra processed foods that they call it.

Speaker 5 (19:12):
Yeah, everything on my diets mostly like like rice, chicken steak, eggs,
cream of rice, which is just shred up rice. You know,
there's there's nothing really complicated about my diet in that regard.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
What's your like favorite healthy bodybuilding meal, Like the one
is like you're like you have a friend who's also
a bodybuilder, they come out of your house, You're gonna
make a dinner for them. What are you gonna offer?

Speaker 5 (19:38):
I was like most and eggs? Well, right, So like
a lot of my meals are really that basic. And
being from Buffalo Hot sausculls on everything, the amount of
Franks Red Hot I go through in a week is
probably enough to burn a hole in my stomach. So
like a lot of my meals are just very basic.
But I will say, like, I always enjoy the cream
of rice one. I actually like people to try it
who aren't bodybuilders, because like, if you mix it up right,

(20:00):
it kind of tastes like a like a thicker chocolate pudding.
So you take cream of rice and put one into it,
like two skips of protein powder and then had a
little bit s one do on top. Just gotta give
it a little bit sweeter taste, and you can put
peanut butter in there with bananas. Is the dessert, No,
it's it's a normal it's a normal meal.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
That's a meal. Yeah, okay, but it's sweet.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Yeah, it can be sweet.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
It could also be savor if you want to, because
cream of rice will take whatever flavor you give it.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
So we interviewed a guy at who's really cute at the.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Arnold Expo out of Austin too, Austin, Texas, and he
had a forgive me because I'm blanking on the name
of his brand.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
But instant cream of rice packets it's like.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Instant oatmeal, but it was for bodybuilders and it all
had different flavors in it and it was really good.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Like we tried there's a funny guy too.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah, it was hilarious, Kyle, what's your like training philosophy
are you? You know, I think this is an ongoing debate.
So you know, obviously muscles have fast and slow twitch fibers,
so the answer is all the above. But like you know,
getting strong, like powerlifting or having a lot of volume

(21:07):
is is great for you? Like what does your body
respond to well too?

Speaker 5 (21:13):
Yeah, And I think there's still a lot more exploration
going on right now because I've been changing up my
philosophy just because I don't know, I feel like there's
a change, and that's an area of improve of mine.
In the past has definitely been more higher volume, lower weight,
slower repetitions, you know, definitely slowed down the down, you know,
fast on the up. But I also done the heavy

(21:35):
lifting and like the amount of reward for lifting heavier
and like putting that extra plate on there and being
able to get that pr I think it's a little
bit more motivating and pushes you a little bit further,
but then your higher risk to get an injury.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Injury.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Yeah, So I would say, especially when I'm looking at
right now, is and I think a lot of bodybuilders
kind of staying I think it's so ambiguous, but like
it's still kind of correct as like that high intensity
while keeping form correctly, so like really pushing those weights
and trying to do it and to get through it,
but also making sure you're the right form and make
sure you're doing it the right way. I think it's
that blend between both. But my hardest struggle, I think

(22:12):
is like getting to failure.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
I've actually just kind of.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
Talked to my coach and said, hey, like I'm going
to do my own thing for right now, and the
reason being is I don't want to know how many
reps you want me to do. As an engineer. I'm
going to engineer my mind and make sure I hit
that number. And sometimes it's not at the most weight
that I could do for that number, or it's not
the most like better way to pull muscle. So what

(22:35):
I've been doing is just there's no numbers, but like
I know what I have to hit around so forcefully
hitting failure and sometimes like I'm shooting for twelve and
I do like twenty five. Okay, La, it's way too well.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
So you're kind of just going off very instinctual feeling
it and not tracking your lifts.

Speaker 5 (22:52):
I am tracking them They're still in a book and
I'm still following around with my coaches like game plan
and like, I know what he's trying to get me.
The hit, Like I'm not skippy on doing like the
lower chest because I don't like it. I'm still doing
like making sure I'm hating the full muscle group, but
it's definitely a lot more of I don't want to
know how. I don't want to know everything about it,
Like I just kind of want to feel and like

(23:13):
find out what failure is and find and go until
I'm really exhausted. And that's why I kind of know
what I'm done.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
What do you think is the hardest muscle group for
you to train versus like just everybody in general.

Speaker 5 (23:24):
For me, as hamstrings, I struggle with them really hard. Well,
you're able to do it, but you just it doesn't
grow for you or what you mean. I think I
have a lot of problems with the mobility and stretching,
so I think I'm not able to fully contract my
hamstrings the way that they should.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Actually.

Speaker 5 (23:41):
Recently, my massage guy was like, yeah, your hamstrings are fine,
and I was like, oh, I'm working them hard. He's like, no,
Like I don't think you're fully constracting them. So I've
been lowering down the weight to kind of make sure
I feel that contraction first and not just.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Are you working them together, tanem or do you work
them separately? You're like your legs.

Speaker 5 (23:58):
So I do two sepid days, So I do quads
and hamstring when there will be one set of each
on the other. So at the end of quads, I'll
do a hamstring. At the end of hamstrings, I'll do
a quad workout.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
But like you're but you're are you working both legs
at the same time or are you doing like a
hamstring pull. I think you're asking are you isolating one leg?

Speaker 5 (24:16):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Are you doing both?

Speaker 5 (24:18):
I'm always always doing both. For the most part, there
is a few things. I have a friend here in
Chicago who's been really helping Drainingwick. He has a few
single leg things, but honestly, a lot of it has
actually been tempo. So like five seconds down hold for
two seconds five seconds.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Up sounds very simple.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
It hurts I just, you know, my own thing. I
was doing like my single legs just because I was
having problems with one hamstring, so I was like, I
really need to make sure that it's figuring out and
pulling its own weight before I can go back to
having them both do together.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
You know, And at a certain point you decided, you know,
when you were twenty two years old and you got
ready to do a contest, there was some point in
your mind you were just like, let me try this.
What what made you like decide like you wanted to
go down the path of competitive bodybuilding?

Speaker 5 (25:06):
Probably was the point Like as I was younger, I said,
I did fully ad my bodybuilding, you know, I J
Culer is definitely my young young inspiration a lot through
bodybuilding and.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
Now you want to classick I did that met him
and he said, I love you Kyle.

Speaker 5 (25:23):
Kyle. Yeah, I think Reagan Grimes is his his solo crush.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
But is Reagan like who you have crushes on bodybuilders?

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Oh? I mean Reagan' stuff. We want Reagan's the top one.
Reagan has been a crush for a long time. You like,
he's he's definitely uh like watching guys pro and from
from that, like because I fallen for a few years
before then that was that was really cool to see.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
So I know when you see him he takes his
pro his uh workout shake and he puts it on
his chest and you're like Daddy, and you're like.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
You could do the same thing too, though, yeah, I
probably could do it.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah, we'll do it after the show auto stuff.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
And you know, part of it is like I think,
for people who are you know, where sexuality is really
it is more important than you realize in terms of
motivating you. You know, and some some gay men say like,
I lift weights so I can have sex with guys
who lift weights, Like it opens the doors, it gives
me the access to people. And other people are just like,

(26:26):
you know, I don't care about lifting weights.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
I'll just pay for it.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
I'll do you know, muscle worship, you know, and and
and everybody has a different motivation of why they do it.
But I think to some degree, sexuality plays a bigger
role than we realize.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
I think it definitely does.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
So like being being younger, like you know that kind
of you know, figure out being gay and things like that,
Like if you want to sleep with more muscular guys,
like you said, you have to kind of be muscular,
so there's a motivation go to Jim for that. I
think once I grew my appreciation for bodybuilding, though, I
think I found a way to kind of like separate
that at least out in a little bit. There are
some friends who will mess with me and be like, hey,

(27:04):
what do you think of my pictures? And I'd be
really careful not to go in the bodybuilder re mo
because like I'll start making critiques.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
That's not the one thing you want to all gay man.

Speaker 5 (27:12):
It's like, oh, like your left biceps a little bit
smaller than you're right, and like, you know, but you know,
but if a bodybuilder asked me, like, hey, you want
someone anounced opinion, like, that's when that mode comes in.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
I had a friend, one of our past guests on
the show, and I'm friends with you know, we're friends
with we're in the bodybuilding scene, and we have a
certain friend of ours who's very very famous for his physique,
and we're at the gay Beach in the summer and
they introduced them to each other and my other friend
he's very you know, nerdy about bodybuilding. So the first

(27:43):
thing out of his mouth was like, you have a
muscle in balance, Your left pat is smaller than the
right one.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Look see, And he went into detail like five minutes,
and the guy was like he was cool with He's like,
thank you. I was worried about that.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
No, I could tell our friend was crush. It's hard
to hear to this day that happened like I don't know,
three years ago, two years ago, and to this day,
like last time I saw him, he was like, still
do you think my lat looks balanced and stuff?

Speaker 2 (28:11):
And I'm like, you shut up. You are one of
the most attractive people on the planet, seriously, you know.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
And part of it is like, you know, and I've
one time I've seen you at at a Pride event
and you know, surrounded by people who are just like
enamored with you, and I feel like I picked up
on that on your body language. You're like, please stop
staring at me, Please leave me alone.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
I'm just a human being.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
Yeah, I think that comes.

Speaker 5 (28:37):
I mean, there's multiple things that my therapist probably go
through about this one for sure.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
But yeah, it's not always about the attention. And we
said not for me. A lot of my friends I
hang around with are not.

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Other bodies, Like, yes, I'm friends with our bodybuilders, but
you'll see me, you know, hanging out with the bears
and the nerds, because like that's that's what I was
before I was a bodybuilder, you know, watching anime or
you know, playing video games and things like that. You know,
I associate those people more than I do just other
people that lift for that kind of thing. So I

(29:12):
get really shying like some certain groups just because like
it doesn't it almost feels though I'm a part of
that group.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
It's not like my main group. It's not my main people.

Speaker 5 (29:20):
So I kind of shy away, and I get a
little bit a little bit nervous about it.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
I mean, you know, like I'm I'm friends with all
these gorgeous muscular men, and you know, most of them
are heterosexual, and I also have friends who are like sexual,
like me obsessed with them. Just for the record, guys,
I've wanted to have sex with every single guest that's
ever been on this podcast for Let's Grow Big Together.

(29:46):
But you know, and so these friends of mine come
up to me and they're just like, have you had
check with your coach or like really inappropriate questions, you know,
like or are you, like, you know, having a three
way with these twins that you know and stuff.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
I was like, honey, I.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Wish it's really hard to get twins, to get into
a three way yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Because it's they're grossed out by each other.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
But you know, part of it is like people like
want to know about your sexuality and your sexual adventures
in respect to bodybuilding, and part of it is like, wellly,
I know it's the same as anybody else. But there's
a there's an aspect of sexuality and bodybuilding called muscle
worship where people are flexing for the pleasure of the

(30:30):
erotic pleasure of flexing, and Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about that
in the documentary Pumping Iron, where he describes it as orgasmic.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
Do you know you're familiar with that?

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah, well it's great, right, and so is that something
you're coming on stage, coming at the gym, you know.
And in the old days of bodybuilding, they even had
a bed where women would come from the street and.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
Be like, I'm hauaani when you sex with me?

Speaker 1 (30:56):
And it's like what and they throw that, throw it down,
have sex with the woman and then get back into
the to the floor and train. Because you know, up
until Mike Menzer, people used to train for hours and
hours and hours. Like Mike Mentzer actually influenced bodybuilders to
be like, hey, you don't want to be training for
five or six hours a day. You may want to

(31:17):
shorten that a little bit. And so we have him
to think. But Mike Menzer himself was a bisexual. You
look at the and you know, muscle for Hire. In
terms of uh, sex work, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger
have that that history as well, you know, and they're
all probably had done it with dudes. So the sexuality,

(31:38):
gender identity, you know, those lines get really blurred when
it comes to bodybuilding, doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (31:44):
And muscle Yeah, yeah, yeah, very much so. And like you,
you're like the muscle worship sidling. It's it's not something
that's going to be an interest in mine. I'm I
think it's because it still leads in the getting attention
and things like that.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
So you don't want to get the attention not so
much so you're the the you're the worshipper, not the
worship p Even even that's a.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Little bit weird because I try and find someone bigger
than the me is a little bit. Uh.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
Are you a cuddler?

Speaker 5 (32:08):
Oh, I'm I'm big on touch. I'm a huge cuddler.
Like cuttling affection is like huge, huge for me and
building those connections and I'm definitely more demi sexual, like
getting to know someone like you are not gonna be
someone I take out the street of market days and
take home and like, you know, we'll wave to you
like goodbye. Through party weekends. I tend to not have
sex at all.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Wow, that's interesting.

Speaker 5 (32:29):
So I mean do people get jealous of you and
they're like you have it tell easy and you know,
I will say, like a story, like there's definitely validity
to that one, because like there's pretty privilege, like and
I fully admit it that there's times that I get it,
Like if I want to have sex right now, it
would not be the hardest thing for me to go
out and seek out.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
We can stop this podcast right now. We do not
have to tape this shit.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
That's a mixed bag, though, Don't you find them? Because
it's like, you know, you're gorgeous, but then in some
ways you're on approachable, so maybe somebody might be interested,
Like they're not going to come up to you unless
you come up to them.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
Yeah, And that's something I've had to be because like
coming up you out being kind of shy and introverted.
I've had to kind of be a little bit more
to take that for a step, and like it takes
me a good while till I finally build the courage.
But no one sees the party. They just see like, oh,
like of course he has the confidence to come up
and say and like it's not there, like I promise you.
Like it takes the same as as someone who's as

(33:28):
that has the same kind of introverted side.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
And when it comes to muscle though, too, it's also
like you get you know, different people are attracted to it.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
I'm always surprised when like Grandma's come up and like
like want to like touch your muscles and faster. It's
like I'm at work. These old guys are.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Like let me feel your mind, but like eighty year
old heterosexual seniors grabbing my ass literally and I'm just
like and they don't mean it, like they're not doing
a sexual way. They're just kind of fascinated by the
difference in your body.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
They're like is it real?

Speaker 3 (33:58):
And I'm like, Grandpa, can your hands off me?

Speaker 2 (34:01):
You must have had that experience.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Oh yeah, I've had people grab all time, and I'm
very quick to grab that hand and twist if it's
in a sexual nature, like you know, an event, but
it was just average people as long as you're like
courteous and ask. I really don't care, Like you want
to feel my arm, just come up and ask.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
But you do have old ladies be like can I
touch it? Yes? But wor kind of funny, isn't it?

Speaker 5 (34:22):
But yeah, the worst is down in New Orleans, going
down on the strip down from there, like especially with
everyone you know, drinking and well, right, but it's all
like like late thirties, early forties are trying to live
their childhood, you know, being drunk on the street and
like I've had to take the side streets to get
out of there sometimes because like they're chasing me down.
They're not chasing me down, but they're like it's it's

(34:43):
aggressively grabbing, like trying like physically pull me in the
bars and I'm like no, no, no, no, like come
drink with me.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Well, that's an interesting thing about bodybuilders. They'll do every
drug under the sun. You know, Mike Manzer was addicted
to enough, right, but they will not touch alcohol. Why
is alcohol so bad?

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Why does it get best muscle? Is that what it is?

Speaker 4 (35:05):
I mean, yeah, definitely, Like, well, don't drugs also kill muscles.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
Any day that you are drinking is a day you
are not building muscle. Fact, how come because it interferes
the ability to make muscle.

Speaker 5 (35:17):
Yeah, so your delivery as a focus on processing the
alcohol and not not focus on it's other goals, which
also help with muscle growth.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
So it kind of puts your body on hold until
it's fully processed.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Because I know, I have one friend of mine that
liked to drink and he was juicing anabolic steroids right,
and he was big, And I saw him walking down
the beach.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
One day and I was like, he'd gone get into trouble.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Well, it's awesome he did. It's you know, it's calories,
like a lot of anti calories. It disturbs your sleep
and all those things that affects your baseline health, and
anything that's going to affect your baseline health is going
to affect your gains.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
I think this fits in like one of my favorite
lines of everything in moderation, quitting moderations. So like, yeah,
like a lot of body builders won't drink, but like
I've at the Olympia of the pros, they're you know,
for the parties that they're celebrating out they have drinks
in their hands.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Ones not competing, like, well, there was one guy who
was recommending having a glass of wine the night before
your contest up, Yeah, is that?

Speaker 3 (36:16):
And my coach and I are like, that's nonsense, It's ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (36:19):
I mean alcohol, well, you know, help help get rid of.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Like red wine. People were saying, like, drink some red wine,
gy red wine.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Well, because people are so nervous too, like I remember
my contest, Like you know, I have a dance and
performance background, so to me, I'm just like it's like
a duck in a pond, you know. I enjoy being
on the stage and some other people are just like
so scared they're literally shaking.

Speaker 5 (36:41):
Is that your Is that your experience my first two shows,
I say I definitely shoulok a lot. I think now
when I do shows, I definitely tend to be more
friendly and nice and like once you talk to people
and kind of fun backstage. I think it kind of
brings the nerves down. I'm still focused on what I'm doing,
but I think it just kind of helps calm everything
and then you can only do the best you're gonna
do that moment. Like, I think my first show, I

(37:03):
was about to hit a wrong pose. I think they
called out side chest and I was doing a side
trice up and I heard my coach scream from the crowd,
wrong pose, wrong pose.

Speaker 4 (37:13):
I was like, oh, shoot, okay, front, Yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
Don't know, I will I didn't. I didn't talk to
the judges. I was like after that show, I kind
of was like, oh I don't I need feedback. Every
show since I've gone feedback.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
But well, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (37:27):
If you if you've got a cramp and you mess
up one pose, they deduct you so many pose points
and if nobody else messes up, then you're done. You're
like when you know, when I was on stage, they're like,
quarter turn, turtle left, and I'm like, that's a reference
for the listeners of this podcast Clay and their quarters
quarter turns. And so I'm turning to the right as

(37:51):
opposed to the left, and then I see everybody turning
the other direction. I'm like, oh shit, you know, and
you're just like, you know, because it's so easy to
get distracted you're on stage, You're except it's so much
and in a lot of ways, it's like riding a
roller coaster, isn't it?

Speaker 5 (38:04):
Yeah, very much so. And to your point in deductions,
like if you're shaking too much or if you can't
hold your poses, let's say it's a rough class keeps
on you through mandatories like you got to hold them
and they're goned to talk.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
So you what's your what's your process like for posing?
Is it like a weekly kind of thing do you do?
Is it every day you try and do some posing
or is it just like six weeks up into the contest.

Speaker 5 (38:26):
I'll say what I probably WI should probably be doing,
which like once prep starts, starting at least weekly with
a posing coach, and start thinking when you have the energy,
when you have the time to do it. But once
it gets closer to a show, which is my more tipical,
once it gets like six weeks out, that's when I'll
start hitting heavy with a posing coach, So twice a
week we'll do that, and then on top of it,

(38:46):
I will be doing my posing every other day in
the posing room, so the off days I'm not with
that posing coach.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
So yeah, I mean at that when you're posing, like,
how like is it a half hour? Is it an hour?

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Tell you about a half hour, but like I drenched
and sweating, especially like those last few weeks, it's exhausting.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Because I mean posing is exhausting because you're holding those flexes,
you're holding that thing. It's almost like it's a workout
of its own.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
Yeah, you're holding your breath like your breath is a
higher up in your chest, it's not down in your abdomen,
so like you're kind of you're you're really holding yourself
up there well.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
And also I think posing is a lot about people
think about the image, right, the destination, but it's also
about the movement you go into the pose and out
of it. And I think, you know, in terms of
like training, I've seen a lot of bad excellent athletes
struggle and not do well because they didn't understand that

(39:42):
concept of how you get into the post is just
as important as the pose itself.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
Yeah, And a good example of this Sam Selleck, not
the Arnold but the one before that's for his qualifier.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
A lot of people were.

Speaker 5 (39:53):
Criticizing that he didn't have his turns, and his posing
kind of brought you know, well and you fixed out
the and old that he finally you know, had those
movements and I think the posing is the most important part.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
Now, Like you need to make sure everything at least
for your mandatories.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
Your posing routine could be whatever, but your mandatories need
to be smooth and slick.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
So can I.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Mid tier body outperformed with good with top tier posing
outperform a top tier body with mediocre posing, Yeah.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
I believe so. When I did my show in Western
New York, one of the guys like he was big
and huge, but like his posing was just not goad.
H yeah, it wasn't wasn't great. It's not the knock
on the guy. But uh so, I mean you get
you get those points off. Whereas like everything that I do,
you know, you kind of you have to have that
fake confidence. You need to stand up there and have
it all. And like, you know, though in my brain,

(40:47):
all I'm doing is like counting every movement in my
head of like timing and things like that. To the audience,
it makes it look like I've been doing this forever.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
And this is advice I'm telling the listeners out there.
It's like, if you want to get better posing, sexualize,
you're flexing if your muscles because you know, you practice
posing maybe once a week once a month or so.
But you have sex pretty often, right, so you know,
and you want to have sex, and you're going to

(41:15):
have sex. So if during the sexual act you can
incorporate just doing a double biceps pose or a side chest,
then you're going to have so much more experience than
somebody who like is scared to flex, you know. And
I've I've hooked up with the bodybuilders who are like cats.
They just lay down on the bed and want their
tummies scratched, you know, and you're just like, come on, man,

(41:38):
you worked so hard showing.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
A plate that meal.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
You know, it's not such about the meal being delicious
and being beautiful, it's about also plating, you know.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
And that's why training your legs is so important, I think.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
So, you know, because training is your legs is that's
the everything rests on it. It's the pedestal, I know.
You know, for Faust's bodybuilding contest, it was like the
difference between the person who came in first and the
person who came in second, it was almost always the
legs because their upper bodies were very comparable, you know,
very much. But then there was just like one guy's
legs were just bigger and just more defined. And that's

(42:12):
why I'm kind of like worried about foulstofe when going
into this. I'm like, do your legs. You have to
do your legs. We gotta get your legs big and strong. Yeah,
because your upper body is great.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
I'm no, Kyle Smolenski, well, you're also twenty years older
than thirty years old.

Speaker 5 (42:26):
Twenty For me, when I did the Western York I
got second place and the judges specificifically said my hamstrings,
and I thought everything else I beat the.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Guy on and he was like, hamstrings weren't good.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
Yeah, my hamster, Like even my quads, I thought it
was better. But he had just shreaded hamstrings and glutes
and the judges said nope. Like that's why I was
like I had almost I had everything else winning except
for that, and like that was That's what.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
And this is a recommendation I make for people, especially,
you know, especially women or anybody who's just thinking about
getting into bodybuilding or just exercise in general. Really just
focus on the legs, at least in the beginning, because
you want to have that platform, you know, the other stuff.
As long as you have strong legs, the other stuff's
gonna come. Yeah, do you feel like that's like, because
I feel like everybody's you know, we we don't throw

(43:12):
the term chicken legs around anymore because I think people
are kind of yetting it, which is people have scrawny
legs and like a big upper body, and a lot
of people say, I can't build my legs. My legs
are always skinny, but your legs are the biggest muscles
in the body.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
Don't be coming for Hugh Jackman on the show.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Well, he's also like a dancer, so he's got it,
you know what I mean, He's got to keep him
a little.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Hugh Jackman is famous maybe like Wolverine skips leg day. Yes,
that was a meme on the internet for years. And
I think he Jackman since he's trained his legs because
even he's like, shit, you know, Henry Cavill's taking all
my gigs.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
No very so, and like for in general, I do agree.

Speaker 5 (43:48):
I think like two by parts, no one will ever
complain that they're too big as arms and legs. Like,
no one's going to complain if you have twenty four
inch arms, even if it looks disproportionate.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Like maybe a woman might. But like, yeah, but like
a woman. If you say a woman with a strong legs,
you're not going to be like, oh my god, she
has strong legs. And you know, strong legs are indicator
for longevity and not. The bodybuilders are worried about that
because most of them are like eyes. If I die young,
if at least I'll die big, you know.

Speaker 5 (44:17):
I mean there's no wellness division, which is all eggs
and butt.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
So what's a typical day of eating for you? Like,
walk us through breakfast all the way to your bedtime?

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Yeah, mine, mine. I think we're going to compare because
mine is even crazier than yours and I'm not as
big as you.

Speaker 4 (44:35):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
First off, I do my meal prep once a week,
so Sunday is everything I always from with the meats
and rice. Everything gets measured out and filled with the fridge.
So working in office, I'm an early bird, so I
get up at five o'clock. I will pack all my
meals with me for work and go the work to
avoid traffic.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
And how many meals is that packed for work?

Speaker 5 (44:54):
For work? Three meals packed?

Speaker 3 (44:56):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (44:56):
So first meals mostly like chicken, rice and like some fruit.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
How much chicken, how much rice and ounces?

Speaker 5 (45:04):
Two hundred ounces of chicken. Yeah, two hundred grams of chicken. No, no,
I'm sorry, ounces, sorry, my brain, ounces of chicken. My
coaches everything in grams. So it's two hundred grams of chicken,
and then about two hundred and eighty grams of rice, okay,
and then one hundred grams of blueberries. And then for
that one two eggs and I throw a little bit

(45:26):
fat free cheese on. It's make it out one.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
That's one meal.

Speaker 5 (45:28):
That's one meal. So I'll eat that once to get
the work. First thing that I do, and then uh
will go in my desk. I will eat then around
like ten or ten or eleven again, go down the
lunch room chicken rice typically something alve oil in there
as well. And think for that one, I have.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Blanket.

Speaker 5 (45:48):
What the little fruit is but hewing no, like not prune,
but now but anyways some kind of fruit, yeah, some
of fruit. And so that'll be that. And then like
one o'clock two ish, towards the end of my day,
I'll have one more one more meal. So I'll either
bring my steak meal, which is about two hundred grams
of steak and then or I figure about two hundred

(46:10):
eighty grams or three or three hundred fifty grams of potatoes,
or I'll bring my cream of rice meal, which is
about one hundred grams of cream of rice, two screws
of protein, and uh sixteen grams of almond butter. I
like that, yeah, and then and then and then that
then you go, that's it for that's the work that
I drive home. I we work earlier around like two
thirty three.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Void traffic, and then how many meals after that?

Speaker 5 (46:34):
Once once I get home, then I'll eat whichever one
of the potato or the steak of potatoes or rice
cream of rice I did eat, we'll get the other one.
I'll then wait by like twenty mens, go train, come
back home. I'll do a shake in strawberries right away.
Wait for it, let's say about thirty months, and then
I'll finish up with another chicken, rice, eggs and blueberries.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
And that's the last meal of the day. Has the
last meal the day? And how many hours before bedtime?

Speaker 5 (46:58):
Is that? It's no where pretty close about time because
in between shaken and bedtime, I turn the way on
the couch and watch TV and lose track it time,
but it gets down.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
So pretty much right before you go to bed. So
your digest and stuff at night, well.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I gotta be careful because if I'm eating and then
taking an app that food's going ruh back up, you know,
and then you just start and you know, the digestion
is so important.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
Do you take any digestive enzymes?

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Nothing specifically, Like in the morning, I'll take a fiber,
I'll take all glutamine and lime juice.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
What's the old glutamine do for you?

Speaker 4 (47:31):
Gay question?

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Ask my coach to answer that question.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
The elf lutamine, lime juice, and a little bit of
apple cider vinegar in the morning with a with a probiotics. Yes,
it helps your stomach prepare itself for all this eating.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Competitive eating is the cousin of bodybuilding in a sense,
like you know, for me, it's like and this is
a crazy thing that my coach and I are trying.
It works, but it is so difficult. You wake up
two hours before you're supposed to wake up and you
have a shake of two scoops of wah, I'm just

(48:07):
vomiting thinking about this, two scoops of of whegh protein
and a cup of instant baby food rice rice pudding,
so it's different and to people like don't why don't
you just cream of rice, you know, the the Gerber
baby stuff, it's more like I describe it to like
mashed potato, instant mashed potatoes, but it's rice.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
So it's really really puread very.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
Thinly and it's very easy to digest and go down
so then you can go back to sleep and get
the sleep you need. Because part of the challenge here
with all this stuff during the day is just cramming
all this food and not going.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Crazy, you know, or or wrecking your digestion and being constipated, right,
And that's what makes I.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
Think a lot of these bodybuilders, the stars you know
some of like Chris Bumstead or you know Jeoffrey Veasso,
you know Mile the husband in France who's going you
know if Jojo Rush searched for him, is amazing.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
You know, these guys are just able to just utilize
so much of this food. And that's really where the
gods of the stadium come to be. If you could
train and have a gym session with like anybody from history,
Mark uh. We we talked about this before we started
taping the show, which I loved your answer.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Who is that going to be fun to be like
all high on meth and work out with Mike Metzer?
Mike Menzer Metzer because he's like, you know, you see
some of his videos on YouTube and he's like pretty
outrageous and you can kind of tell, like, oh, this
guy's high as a kite. I would just like to
witness it.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
Yeah, I mean, because part of you know that skit
from Saturday Night Live, I live in a van by
the river. We need to do a whole show about
Mike Menzer because he was such a colorful character and
he influenced so much bodybuilding and in a lot of ways,
like he was a very unh person, like he he
was in the closet about being bisexual. He struggled with

(50:06):
a drug abuse to some of the harshest drugs, and
he didn't even have a home. He was like on house.
He lived in an event by the parking lot, by
the gym. And yet and then on top of that,
he's considered one of the greatest bodybuilders in all of history,
and he unceremoniously he lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger at a

(50:27):
time in Arnold's career when he didn't look that great.
So part of it is like, you know, people say, oh,
it's all political, and I said, to some degree, you know,
part of the reason I think Sam Sulik did well
is because he's a.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
Huge name in bodybuilding, and you know, we don't live in.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
An isolated from each other. And I think the judges,
like I had one judge come up to me and
he said, I'm so, I was so impressed with the
way you were training for this show that I'm really
glad you did well, And so there's kind of sh
she had seen me, like, you know where everybody else

(51:05):
goes home. I'm like, you know, of course I'm listening
to dream Girls and I'm tailing you. I'm not going
when and I'm doing the stairs, you know, and I'm
devaying out and she's like looking at me.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
It's like, look at that passion. She can't tell for me.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
The bodybuilder of all time is Eugen Sandow, who pretty
much you know, created bodybuilding in the modern world. And
he was like he was a what is it, a
consultant for kings and queens of Europe, you know, So
I mean talking to somebody like that and he's caught
as fuck. You know, DTF would win any contest today?

(51:46):
Would he would do well in classic physique? You know,
that's that's part of what classic physique is. It's a
reference to these old looks. Of course, we're all, you know,
juice to the gills, So it's not the same thing
Eugen Sandow had to do it, you know, by eating
pork test the gold.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
But know what he was doing.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
But for you, Kyle, your your all time history's greatest bodybuilders.

Speaker 3 (52:09):
Who would you want to train with?

Speaker 4 (52:11):
I think overall Dennis Wolf would be You're someone really fun.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
Like Dennis who Wolf?

Speaker 3 (52:18):
Dennis?

Speaker 4 (52:19):
Oh yeah, definitely was school.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
But then the answer that like want to give, Like,
I think it'd be really fun to be killed through
workout with Ronnie Coleman, Like probably would die. But like
I think if there's anyone that could ever push anybody
that do like crazy insane things, I think it would
be him.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
So I got to take a shot every time he
goes light white babies, right.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
I was at a at the La Fitness down the
street one time and there was these two Mexican guys.

Speaker 3 (52:43):
They didn't speak any English.

Speaker 1 (52:44):
Because I was talking to them and stuff, but in
between set they're like light way baby, like way baby.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
And I was like, do you know what that means?
And it's like and the okayidnif and they're just like no.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
And I was like, it's just trying to trick yourself
psychologically into thinking that the weight isn't that heavy, right,
and you know, And I was just going to the
Black Eyed Pe restaurant with Ronnie Coleman and eating all
that food, you know, yeah, and he was eating out.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
You know, it's like, can you imagine like putting it was.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
That in all you can eat buffet though that he
went like to every day. Yeah, and they probably had
a special price for him.

Speaker 5 (53:22):
I mean there's some people that can eat pizza every
day and still cut down and his weight. I mean,
GenEx is as much as as much as we want
to add. Think it's always not the most important part,
but it's definitely up there.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
But you can't change it inetics, correct, You're stuck with you.
That's the most hardest part about bodybuilding and in life.

Speaker 4 (53:39):
Yeah, you can't.

Speaker 3 (53:41):
You can't cheat, you know in that sense, you're stuck
with being you. Let's go into some questions from our listeners.

Speaker 1 (53:46):
Uh Dante from Miami, Florida wants to know does sleep
effect gains more than people think?

Speaker 3 (53:54):
How important is sleep quality for muscle growth?

Speaker 5 (53:57):
For muscle growth, way, I think it's important and everyone
stresses it. It's not even I mean, look at any
professional athletes and it's it's talked about it with sleep.
From my side of my experience, so like I'm lucky,
I'm narcolectic, I can pass out like anyone that knows
me as a friend will be like I can pass
out on a hardwood floor, no problems. So for me,

(54:19):
sleeping is an issue as much. I do have sleep appna,
but it's mild, so like guys have a mouth guard
pulls my jaw forward nice and easy.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
But overall I really think sleep.

Speaker 5 (54:28):
Your sleep's important, scheduling that time and making it part
of your schedule, which is a whole another topic of
having a routine is important.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
We don't get get sleep, I feel like crap the
next day.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Well, to sleep, you know, your body releases the human
growth hormone when you sleep, and if you don't sleep,
you're not releasing that, and so that not only helps
your body grow for the muscle, but it also repairs
your body as well, and if you're not like sleeping,
your brain doesn't get fleshed out from the fluids that
are in there, so it can make you brain fog
man could lead to dementia.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
You know, BPC one five TB five hundred, which are
people don't know who these There are peptides that help
stimulate your body to heal itself, kind of like human
growth hormone.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
Also MKU.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Six six six six seven seven is also a growth
hormone precursor and human growth hormone.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
All these will work better when you get good sleep.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
So some people like, and I've heard this from other
clients of mine, it's like they're they'll take all this
stuff and then sleep four hours and be like it's
not working. And I'm like, cause all this stuff will
only work if you get a good night's sleep. So
if you're spending you know, two hundred three hundred dollars
a month on human growth hormone and you're not getting

(55:50):
good night's sleep, you're just flushing it out the window.
And so that comes with you know, sleep in a
dark room, make sure you go to bed at the
same time each night. You know, if you're running anabolic
steroids at a high take edibles because you gotta you
got to quiet down your your central nervous system somehow,
and anabolic steroids stimulate adrenaline release, and so people are

(56:15):
always you know, people are like, right, rage and stuff.
It's like, no, it's just that you're you're excited. You know,
you're you're wired, and so it's really hard to calm
down to go to bed. And you know, Mark's things
like wash your sheets. You know, it's like any little
things that you can do to improve your quality or
sleep will yield so much rewards in terms of your muscles.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Sleep in a dark room, avoid screens at night, have
a white noise machine.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
Max Bennett from Austin, Texas. Are bcaa's a scam? Do
they help with muscle growth? Or is it?

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Or is a complete protein source all you need?

Speaker 4 (56:53):
I think everyone's going to have their own answer this one.

Speaker 5 (56:56):
My overall answer is if my coach says to take it,
I'm going to take it, because that's that's part of
being a client. I like there's room to question your
coach about it if you think that it's a thing.
So like I've always take taken b c as The
thing is the amount of supplements I take per day
to individually tell if each one actually helps with growth
or not. Is is going to be impossible. I can't

(57:17):
just take one of them and test it out. Overall,
I think I think they're good. And I like sugar
flavored water, so you know, as I'm working out there
and using it as my intro, you know, it helps
me get down through oh my workouts, So I don't
mind personally taking it.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
Do I think it has a positive effect on growth?
I think it does.

Speaker 5 (57:39):
I don't think a lot of these coaches in pros
would be taking it, and I truly bee that they're
taking them.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
I don't think they're just advertising it. So I personally
think it's great.

Speaker 5 (57:48):
But I also think, you know, if if your diet
is said perfectly and you are the right right amount
of ascids in your body already, I don't think you're
going to do it yourself much justice by anymore.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
But I think you know, when you're cutting for a contest,
I mean, who here hasn't lost so much strength? You
know you're depleting yourself out of calories and carbohydrates, So
you know, those bcas may be like just a tiny
little thing that helps.

Speaker 5 (58:16):
Yeah, And like I said, like at that point when
you're depleted, you know, you don't care he's want your
workouts to be done at that point. But but you know,
I think they do have a positive fact. I don't
think they would still have the same repuability they did
if they didn't work.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
But I think, you know, like creating is a more
powerful supplement if you're going to spend money on stuff.
And you know, it's like anabolic steroids are not the
most expensive thing about bodybuilding.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
It's the food.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
Well, and like creating, regular doctors are recommending it now
for just regular folks. They're just like, your brain needs creating,
and it might be one of those things that is
a defense against things like Alzheimer's in early onset dementia.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
You know what an interesting thing I just heard this
week on the forms is if you had a bad
night's sleep, like you only got four hours of sleep,
triple your creatine intake the next day, because your brain
gets damaged when you don't sleep well, and creating can
help protect your brain in the long term.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Isn't that interesting? I was like, let me know how
it works.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
How important is to chase the pump. Jalen in Chicago
wants to know. Jalen works out with us in La Fitness.
I noticed that when I lift heavy lighter weights with
more reps, I got a really good pump. But my
coach is recommending I lift heavyweights.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
What's better for a long long term muscle rope?

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Yeah, what's better for long term?

Speaker 1 (59:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (59:44):
I think from my stand by my workouts, I think
it's that mix of both. Like I have my heavier workouts,
like my dad list, I don't actually bench but using
Dumbell Dumbell bench press and things like that, Like those
are my heavier lifts, and you know, do I get
a pump from them? Yes? But also that the idea
is kind of be it's more so your compounds. You
just kind of want to get that blood moving once
you get to the accessories. I think that's that's where

(01:00:04):
you really want to chase that pump, and you really
want to take your time and make sure. Like my
arm workouts, I can't touch my ears, like to get
getting headphones out hurts.

Speaker 4 (01:00:12):
But like everything lightweight, like not high volume, but you know,
mid volume.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
And because it depends really on the muscle group, right,
Like your arms in your shoulders, they like a lot
of volume.

Speaker 5 (01:00:21):
Correct, Yeah, so my arms and shoulder I definitely do
a lot more volume. We're back in back in chest,
you know, definitely a little bit less and less volume
and more more heavy. So it's a little bit on
how your body functions and what makes it grow.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
When you're doing dumbell chest press. What weight are you using?

Speaker 5 (01:00:37):
If I'm doing inclined prior around like one fifties? God
damn wow, my top sells would be like one fifty,
but we build up to it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
That's that's like double what I left.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
But I think most people hear, okay, we're all quit
by Lena in New York City. Cold plunge ouch. Do
they actually help with muscle group recovery or is it
just ridiculous? Saunas and and cold plunges?

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Yeah, so I've never done one before.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
You never jump in a bath full of ice or anything.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
No.

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
I never did that when I was in Iceland though
last year. Like that was part of like what they
called the ritual at the hot springs. Like he went
from the hot spring to the cold plunge to the
sauna and like kind of you know, moved around I
don't think it was any for any health benefit. I
think it was just an advertising gig to get you
the bounce those stations. But recently, my my massage guy
out here in Chicago, he's super big in the contrast therapy,

(01:01:36):
which is that which is that hot and cold plunge
as well sauna. He swears by it, and I kind
of treat him like my coach because my massage I
just doesn't sit there massage me. He's he's actively tackling
the problems that I tell him to go after.

Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
So if he says, hey, this will help.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
You're gonna believe it. Like well, the thing with sauna
is that they're discovering the reason why it's it's so
good for your your body is because once you get
to a certain core temperature in there, it forces your
body to take some of these proteins that are damaged
and it either repairs them or it spits them out
and gets them out of your body. And so that's
one of the great things about doing the sun and
you typically have to be in there for about twenty

(01:02:13):
minutes to have that kind of effect. With the cold plunges,
it stops inflammation, right, and which is really good for
your general body, but when you're lifting weights, you kind
of want that information inflammation right after your workout and
then so I don't know if you would want to
do the cold plunge right after a workout. You might
want to do that on its own kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (01:02:32):
Yeah, No, that that's really something to touch on. You
definitely don't want to do it after your workouts.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
That they know, no cold plunges after your workout, because
it's going to reduce inflammation, and you want that inflammation
at least immediately.

Speaker 5 (01:02:43):
Yeah. Correct, you're off days like you know, or after
like mine's right after my massage, and it's just meant
to kind of help with that recovery because right now
a whole bunch of junk just got broken off of
my muscle. So like as we could out.

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
And in a lot of people's pain, you know, it's
it's caused from that inflamation around your fashia, you know,
around your joints, all those kinds of things. So and
that's part of the reason they're actually thinking that you know,
people in the northern like up North age slower than
people in the south because of the cold atmosphere.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
So that's why vampires live in cold climates.

Speaker 5 (01:03:15):
Because everyone should. So everyone Chicago's gonna live forever, then, right,
I go.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
Live for But then also too, you know, it's a
trade off the last vitamin D.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
So I don't you know from the supplement of vitamin
D folks in five thousand with the MK what is
an MK six even?

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Is that no vitamin K combined?

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
Fabulous stuff and last, but not least Vanessa in San Francisco,
she is training for her first contest.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Congratulations Vanessa, Yeah, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Slay sligh Queen the drag bodybuilding.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
It's about the same thing, just one you actually you
create your muscles are not made out of styrofoam.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
But she has a sweet tooth and it's it's really bad.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Our coach is recommending that she used erythriol mixed with
monk fruit as a sweetener in order to put into
her things that she wants to sweeten because it's just
really hard, but she's hard that it can cause digestive
issues which can impact her ganes. What are your thoughts
on artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Do they affect gut health,

(01:04:21):
insulin sensitivity or metabolism?

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
How much should I be taking. That's a really hard
question to answer.

Speaker 4 (01:04:28):
No, really, you tackle it.

Speaker 5 (01:04:30):
No, but this is perfectly my wheelhouse. So I am
also a sweet tooth person. If you offer me a cheesecake,
then then it's getting devoured unless it's prep.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
But no, the entire cake. Oh yeah, you finished off
an entire cheese kick in when sitting.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
Oh yeah, no, don't take me.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
You're a feeders fantasy.

Speaker 5 (01:04:53):
I've had a few feeders me. Its a Brazilian steakhouse,
and be surprised. I don't ever stop eating until you
are and a half. Wow, that was kind of like
four show on purpose though.

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
So do you, like, do you use those kind of
sweeteners or do you have gut problems.

Speaker 5 (01:05:08):
With it or yeah? So, I mean I use them
all through or through most of the beginning of props.
And that's even like your diet sodas and things like that.
Diet sod is what got me through my first show.
When I was at work, I had like five energy
drinks lined up on my desk. Great and probably really
bad in the amount of caffeino that was in those.
I just kind of need that like taste of sugar.

(01:05:29):
They kind of get through.

Speaker 4 (01:05:30):
So, like I used Truvia frome my meals.

Speaker 5 (01:05:34):
Like I said, I put in my cream of rice
throughout if if there's something that helped to make it
just a little bit sweeter and better, I'll put it
in there. One advice I did when I was prepping,
so going through having your protein shakes, I can chug
those in two seconds. I just started playing the protein
shakes in Ninja with ice and put a little extra
sweetener in there. It tasted just like a frosty. And

(01:05:55):
the reason why the ice is great is it slows
you down from eating it, so you're not chugging it.
You would actually take a spoon and like spoon and
take one spoonful.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
So it's a little more filling then in that sense correct.

Speaker 4 (01:06:05):
The slower you can eat your food, like, especially towards
the end, the better.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
Because there are some people that take this over at
the all and like have no problems, but other people
they're like, it's like it's like straight on diarrhea that
kind of thing, like there, yeah, one thing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
I've just wants a little diarrhea between friends.

Speaker 5 (01:06:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Well, it's a good way to lose weight, but if
you're trying to gain then it's something, but you know
there are so you have to figure out what's right
for your gut for sure. But if you want like
some natural things that are that are sweet, like dates,
dates are one of those things that you like. You
can eat a bunch of dates and it doesn't spike
your your blood glucose levels, which is what the thing
is going to get you to become fat.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
Coconut sugar, sell it at the grocery store. Great, it's
actual sugar, so it has calories, be careful, but it
doesn't spike.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
Your your insulin hence glucose, the blood glucose.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Yeah. Uh. One sweetener if you are trying to reduce
calories is Langkanto monk fruit sweetener with the golden one
that has molasses. Molasses is also a natural sweetener that
is low in calories and high nutrients. It's basically all
the good stuff, right, It's all the good stuff in
sugar that they pull out to make it white. So

(01:07:15):
you know, palm sugar, coconut sugar. Part of the reason
is it's not processed, you know, and the stuff that
we're eating.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
That's that's why I like, you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:22):
Know, sugar is cooked with cowbones, well not vegan stuff,
but not the vegan stuff. But how often do you
buy the vegan stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
You can buy it and it's available, but no one's
going to buy it that you know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
So you know, so part of it is like it
is about what your goals are, and to think about
your goals in a three month window as opposed to
the day.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
You know, Like I hear so many people like, well, I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
Just going to do ten more minutes on the stairs
so I can have myself a parfait at Dairy Queen afterwards.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
And you're like, that is that doesn't work that way?

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
That is the best time to have a parfe though,
was right after a workout, isn't it? Or right before?

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
That's a good quest, and so is it a good
idea if you're gonna, you know, have a terrible meal.

Speaker 2 (01:08:05):
It was seventy degrees here in Chicago and we did
not go to Dairy Queen today.

Speaker 3 (01:08:09):
I love going to Dairy Queen.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
It's usually the first day of spring where it's like
it's time to go to Dairy Queen, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
And Kyle in terms of like you know, you're you're
in a relationship, you're in love right now?

Speaker 2 (01:08:20):
No, oh, sorry, Well, Kyle is single and ready to
scratch that shout to the Kyle meet up in Kyle, Texas.
I consider going you can.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
Fall in love with somebody who's named Kyle.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
But in terms of like the relationshipsty you have been in,
you know, part of it is like I notice a
lot of a lot of bodybuilders. It takes a village.
It's not something that's done in isolation. And I've seen
somebody builder struggles because our partners are just not like
are you done get on a gym. I have a
friend of mine, love him to death. He married this
woman and the woman every the only time I ever

(01:08:57):
met her was she would come into the gym and
yell him for lift, for taking too much time, and
he was fast. He was like he is in and
out and an hour and a half if at the most.
In terms of your relationships, have you ever dated other
bodybuilders or is it is it better to date somebody
who's not.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
A bodybuilder for you?

Speaker 5 (01:09:15):
For me, it's always been positive to date someone who
always gets the lifting lifts lifestyle. I will kind of
give like a warning like for anyone that does want
to date a bodybuilder, Like there's a lot more that
goes into this, that like to build, to build the
body that you're chasing after that that you want to date. Like,
there's a lot that goes into it, and like going
through a prep with with someone you mentioned like isolation.

Speaker 4 (01:09:37):
I prefer the isolate.

Speaker 5 (01:09:39):
I actually prefer kind of not way protein but actually, yeah,
but the physically isolate, because I don't want to be
a burden on my partner for a lot of it,
and because I feel like it's a privileged choice to
do competing, so why should I burden them and like
kind of ruin a lot of what's going going on
with them because you know, I'm unable to do it.
But for the most part, most of times I've done

(01:10:00):
shows have been single, except for my last one. Last
my last partner was super supportive and super great through
my entire show. Basically forced me to let him cook
my chicken one day because I was like dragging my feet.
But but yeah, for me, I've always had a better
experience with someone who's who at least gets the lifting
lifestyle because then you kind of avoid those awkwardness of

(01:10:21):
like you know, well, why are you always at the
gym or things like that. My tayst and guys are
definitely all over the place, so they're not just muscle guys,
but I do find it easier for muscle guys to
kind of fit more into that kind of lifestyle.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
Oh, if if you're interested in Kyle, send your slide
it his DMS on Instagram. What's your Instagram handle? That's
case one ninety two case.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
We'll put it in the show links down below in
the in the show notes case link.

Speaker 5 (01:10:52):
Ksmo first letter, my first name, three of my last,
and then ninety two is a year I was born.
Is literally my first user name on a well when
I was five, and I've met every changed it since.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
I appreciate you coming on the show. You're a rising
star in the bodybuilding scene, you know, which I don't know.
People are like, great, you're famous, so what, but you
know you look amazing. You always post these amazing photos,
and you know, I hope to share a.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
Stage with you someday.

Speaker 4 (01:11:22):
Yeah, for sure, be really fair to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
I mean, because part of it is, like, you know,
when you're doing these shows, you're just kind of like
you're all alone back there, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:11:30):
Yeah, I mean that's why you're got to bring your support,
though for the most part, I don't want friends. I
don't I don't allow random friends to come to show.
So they're super expensive and for the two minutes I
will be on stage total, I don't think it's worth
one hundred dollars tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:11:43):
So well, I think the Gladiator you can see the
afternoon poses for like thirty or forty five bucks or something. Yeah,
it's not that expensive here in Chicago. That day one
then it's about seventy five. Yeah, so skip the pre
the wors of the the pre shows.

Speaker 4 (01:12:01):
But for the pre judging is like the important things,
and that's important. That's what you're being.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Judge your friends.

Speaker 1 (01:12:07):
Yeah, to support your friends, you want to go to
the pre judging if you just want to see the show.

Speaker 4 (01:12:10):
Go so you want to see them dance their favorite song?
Then you go the a the song?

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
What song did you pose to?

Speaker 5 (01:12:16):
The last one I did was go the distance Hercules?
All right? Ohough, yeah, I will say I'm more of
a wing it on stage since since the opposing routine
isn't judge, I don't tend to put as much effort
into that part of it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
So are you doing the rotisserie chicken posing school where
you're just like rotating around and doing different poses.

Speaker 5 (01:12:37):
Yeah, just sitting on the mandatories are like some like
classic poses and things like that, Like Hercules is really
simple because there's a lot of like areas the hold.

Speaker 1 (01:12:45):
Then I tell you that I I snuck in an
I legal pose in my routine and I didn't get no.
I did the crucifix because it's considered a blasphemous so
I so I did it like I would a tree.
But then I opened my arms out and I did
a crucifix pose, and and I was like, I did

(01:13:06):
it fast enough that with movement that the judgers wouldn't
catch it, and they didn't.

Speaker 5 (01:13:12):
I mean, I will say, ooh, rebel, I will say
I'm highly jealous of the people that put a lot
of effort into them because some people do a really
good job at their posing routine.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
Isn't amazing, You're just like wow, too bad, you know,
And part of me is like, well, they do announce
the winners after you do the posing routine, so don't
you think just a tiny little bit as being influenced
or the scores already folded up like the oscars and
Price Waterhouse Coopers already has tabulated it.

Speaker 5 (01:13:38):
They are in ninety nine points nine set. Unless there
was whoever is going to win, like when it had
so many like cheeseburgers that they came in like ultra
bloated and compared like like, there would have to be
a large difference unless like some unless people are really close,
like they might use the afternoon to judge it, or
they might bring them back out to repose. Oh really,
Oh yeah, that that that can happen. So judges haven't

(01:14:00):
like during the break if won't agree, if they don't agree,
or they come if they come up to a tie,
they will bring them out for reposing. Oh shit, yeah,
so like that, So on your brakes, you know, yeah,
on your breaks, don't uh, don't go wild over with
food unless like was he really think you got last place?

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
Because they had like some they had like pizza and
cookies and stuff like that backstage for you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
Specifically, it went up to me and they're like, look,
you're you're not going to do that. Well they didn't
do that. Now they were just like would you like
some pizza and don'nut sounds like let me just finish this.
I want to do it, you know, because you don't.

Speaker 1 (01:14:36):
Want even want to put something because you're nervous, right, yeah,
in your stomach.

Speaker 5 (01:14:40):
No, Like my first my first show, my coach, you know,
I got like third or fourth, which is the bottom.
So like we went and had burgers and fries afterwards,
and we were good. But every other show since then,
like it's been you know, on the edge, so you know,
still say dehydrated, have.

Speaker 4 (01:14:54):
A few rice cakes, and bunker down for a few hours.

Speaker 3 (01:14:57):
I was so shocked, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:59):
And and just to give people open bodybuilding and class
of physique are two different animals altogether. But for me,
it was like I was eighth out of thirty two
in my height and end weight, which to me, I'm
just like the fact that you know, these are guys,
I'm masturbated to some of these guys, so I'm just like,

(01:15:23):
I cannot believe that I even did better than some
of them. And it's part of it is because they
were just really nervous, you know. But in my age
group then I placed second, and people were like you
were robbed and no, no, no, And I was like
the guy who did number one, he had competed eight
times and never won anything.

Speaker 3 (01:15:40):
Oh wow. And he had a heart of gold.

Speaker 4 (01:15:42):
He was like a.

Speaker 1 (01:15:44):
Emergency medical doctor in the field and for the army,
for the army, and just really and very liberal, very progressive,
and you know, trying to convince all these right wingers
who are not into getting vaccines to vaccinate to save lives.

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
So he's like, you know, he's like this mister Rogers
with muscles, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
And I was like, I'm really honored that I lost
to I mean, we second next time, really, right, So
you know, and both of us are going to be
going getting our hopefully our pro card, yeah, by the
end this year.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
So and when's your next show going to be?

Speaker 5 (01:16:20):
Next show probably be about two years to probably like
over the summer going into like the towards the end
of the season.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
Is it harder to do prep in the spring when
it's like kind of starts off cold and gets warmer
and warmer.

Speaker 5 (01:16:34):
If I had an option, I would always cut during
the winter time because like your social obligations are already
kind of like past Christmas at that point, like because
it's cold in Chicago, not a lot of people like
want to go out and do things, like you kind
of have a reason to hunker in. But my last
prep was definitely through the summer and kind of hurt
when people like, hey.

Speaker 4 (01:16:51):
We're going We're going, you know, to the beach and
then we're going out for dinner. It's like or you know,
people have parties and things like that and you can't go.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Like all these good parties, I can skip those.

Speaker 5 (01:17:03):
I already I already skipped most of them. But like
you know when friends have birthdays and stuff and you
want to be a part of it. And I still
remember one time I was prepping the two weeks out
of friend invited me to his house and like I
could not talk quickly. I was very like a turtle
is talking slow. He's like, please do me a favor
and please go home and take a nap. And I
was like, but but he's like he's like, no, please
go home.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
Take a nap.

Speaker 5 (01:17:23):
Like I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
I was like, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
I did radiation therapy in the summer before for cancer,
and then I got on stage, so I were like,
are you just tired because you're you know, because of
the cancer, was because of the prep, and I was
just like, I don't know, but I'm ready for this
to be over for all of this to be over,
but I'm definitely not ready for the podcast to be over.

Speaker 3 (01:17:48):
It's it's up, but it is over.

Speaker 1 (01:17:50):
It is a pleasure getting to know you, Kyle Smolinski,
Thank you SMO eighty ninety two. And you can see
all these amazing photos. Of course we're gonna have photos
of Kyle on the website feastafun dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:18:06):
Thank you so much for coming on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
Super coming back sometime and remember our.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
Folks, Feast of Fun is made possible. Let's grow big together. Sorry,
Let's grow Big Together is a project, it's a production,
Feast of Fun Apparent Company.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
The best way to support the show is to become
a plus memory and you can do that at feast
of Fun dot com, slash plus or join us at
Patreon at patreon dot com slash feasts of Fun.

Speaker 1 (01:18:33):
It's it's a it's a real honor to do the
show and so much fun to talk about bodybuilding with you.
And of course you can listen to all our archives
with amazing athletes for the last twenty years at feastafund
dot com slash plus, where you'll have that warm feeling,
the rush like a.

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
Huffing on a bottle of poppers.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
Of that that you're supporting independent, not corporate involved.

Speaker 3 (01:18:59):
Muscle grown.

Speaker 5 (01:18:59):
No, that's why I don't like them. Got it?

Speaker 1 (01:19:04):
You get that good feeling that you're supporting independent media.
We are completely objective and able to be a objective
and give you the truth and nothing but the truth because.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
We are not funded by anybody.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
There's no pharmaceutical companies or supplement companies pouring money. This
is made because of you, guys. You made this show happen,
so thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And
of course right now we are computer is falling apart.
We run out of space on our hard drives, and
lots of other problems are popping up. Please go to

(01:19:37):
GoFundMe dot com slash Feast of Fun twenty twenty year
anniversary a Feast of Fun help us celebrate by replacing
our computer.

Speaker 3 (01:19:47):
Thank you so much, Kyle, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:19:49):
Fun.

Speaker 3 (01:19:50):
Bye everybody, Bye bye everyone,

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Kyle Smolinski - Muscle, Mass and Rainbows

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Kyle Smolinski - Muscle, Mass and Rainbows